The present invention relates generally to clocks and, more particularly to clocks for monitoring periodic events, such as the orderly turning of bedridden patents to prevent pressure ulcers.
Pressure ulcers, more commonly known as bedsores, are a preventable cause of increased morbidity, mortality and medical costs among bed bound patients. Research indicates that as many as fourteen percent (14%) of all hospitalized patients develop pressure ulcers, and they are particularly prevalent among institutionalized elderly bed bound patients. The cost of pressure ulcer treatment ranges from $2,000 to $30,000 per case, which translates into over $3.5 billion per year in additional medical costs.
Pressure ulcers are caused by the compression of soft tissue between bony prominences and an external surface such as a chair or mattress. When a patient remains in one position for an extended period of time, the pressure obstructs the flow of blood, causing ischemia and tissue death. Pressure ulcers can occur in one to six hours and pressure relief is the only effective means of prevention. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research recommends that bed bound patients be repositioned every two hours to relieve pressure and prevent pressure ulcers.
The standard practice among most health care providers is to reposition the patient every two hours, rotating from spine to lying on either the left side or the right side. Clinical documentation supports this method for preventing the occurrence of pressure ulcers. The ideal prevention plan has the patient spending only two hours in a given position. To accomplish the two-hour repositioning of patients, health care providers must keep track of the time that a patient is turned and the specific position to which the patient was moved. Repositioning events are commonly recorded on a written turning schedule. Unfortunately, such recordation requires additional time and paperwork for health care providers. Furthermore, such monitoring is prone to errors and is complicated by the changes in personnel that occur during a twenty-four hour period. Thus, the repositioning of bed bound patients is often dependent upon the diligence of health care providers in monitoring and recording such repositioning events.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that it is desirable to have a means for accurately monitoring periodic events, such as the orderly turning of bed bound patients in order prevent pressure ulcers. Accordingly, the clock of the present invention eliminates the need for a written turning schedule. Healthcare providers can quickly determine the appropriate position for a patient merely by observing the clock and associating the time with a given patient position. Furthermore, the use of the clock of the present invention provides a means for maintaining continuity in the administration of care among the different health care providers that typically attend a patient within a given twenty-four hour period. Finally, the clock of the present invention requires minimal training for health care staff. Thus, it is believed that use of the clock of the present invention will result in an increase in caregiver and patient compliance.
There are several clocks found in the art in which the face of the clock is coded, such as with color. However, all of these devices are directed to aids for teaching a person how to tell time.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,214, issued to Rancati, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, is directed to a device and method for teaching the reading of time. The device includes a clock fact wherein the numeral indicia differ from each other in a manner other than shape, and wherein there is provided a plurality of sets of indicators with each set of indicators differing from the other sets in the same manner as the indicia differ from each other. Thus, the sets of indicators each relate to a different indicia on the clock face respectively by color and/or texture. Initially, the passage of time is indicated by selectively applying a given set of indicators preferably shaped as sectors of the clock face successively to the clock face between successive indicia; the sectors corresponding to a given one of the indicia or numerals on the clock face.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,389, issued to Brooks, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, is directed to a time telling teaching aid comprising a base, a rotatable peripheral wing with selector window, a top surface that represents the face of a clock, and a minute hand whose point is linked to the rotatable peripheral ring at the selector window and hour hand that individually rotate about a common pivot. The device uses a color and script coding ring and a separate color matching system for two distinct time telling functions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,945, issued to Totten, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, is directed to a time telling teaching device in the form of a color coordinated clock face provided with two numerical scales circumferentially and concentrically disposed thereon in spaced relationship to represent segments of time corresponding to the face of a clock. The inner scale represents the hour numerals 1 to 12, which are color coordinated to correspond to their respective 30 degree arc segments. The outer scale represents the minute numerals 00 to 55 in intervals of five. The device further includes hour and minute hands pivotally mounted on the clock face centrally of the numerical scales. The hour hand is of such a size as to lie within the colored arc segments, and the minute hand is of such length as to extend beyond the colored arc segments and up to the outer numerical scale.
All of the aforementioned devices incorporate color coding to facilitate teaching a person how to tell time. None is configured to enable a person, such as a healthcare practitioner, to monitor a periodic event, such as the orderly turning of bed bound patients. What is needed then, is a clock that is coded and/or configured to facilitate such monitoring.